Anauroch
}} Anauroch (Ah-''NOR''-ach), or The Great Sand Sea, is a magical desert in northern Faerûn. It holds the remnants of the once-powerful Netherese Empire, their flying enclaves having crashed to the ground fifteen centuries past when their greatest mage Karsus, in a desperate bid to end the war against the phaerimm, challenged the goddess Mystryl for her divine mantle, causing the weave to falter and all magic to fail. For generations since, Anauroch, the greatest desert in Faerûn, has encroached relentlessly on border nations, burying them beneath the sands. The only people to call Anauroch home is the nomadic Bedine tribes and a small Zhentarim garrison, tasked with patrolling and defending a line of oases along the Black Road, the trade route that winds west from the ruins of Teshendale to Llorkh at the foot of the Graypeak Mountains. Finally, on 20 Nightal in 1372 DR, Thultanthar of the ancient Netherese Empire re-emerged from the Demiplane of Shadow in the skies above the Dire Wood, before drifting into Anauroch, settling above the Shoal of Thirst, bringing the evil and warped Shadovar into the Realms. Life and Society The Bedine nomads are simplistic in nature who survive by raiding and guiding caravans through the hidden passes, making their home on the surface of the wastes, traveling from oasis to oasis. They're divided into a dozen or so minor tribes lead by sheiks, whose wealth is measured not by gold, but by the size and well-being of their herd. The Bedine are good natured and noble, and the infringement upon their home by the Shadovar has trapped them in an exposed position. The Zhentarim, always eager to make a profit, have fought long and hard to secure routes for their caravans through the desert. The northern routes across the High Ice are plagued by monsters too numerous to fight and in the south humanoid raiders and interference from the Dales and Cormyr hinder their efforts. After years of painstaking effort the Zhentarim have created a caravan route via oases in the Sword, the sandy southern portion of Anauroch. The garrison constantly fights to defend it's territory, but despite years of bitter fighting with the Bedine, the Zhentarim hold little more land than that on which they stand in Anauroch. Below the dunes of Anauroch lurk what remains of the evil phaerimm, a race of reptilian-spellcasters with near-unrivaled mastery of the Art, long imprisoned in a magical shell called the Sharn Wall under the desert. The phaerimm were forgotten by all but the wisest of sages until the barrier holding them was broken. Since fighting the combined armies of most of the Evereksa, Evermeet, The Heartlands, the Chosen of Mystra and the Shadovar - all at once - the remaining phaerimm are now scattered beneath the surface. The returned masters of Anauroch, the ancient Netherese wizards of Thultanthar, warped and twisted by their long exile in the Demiplane of Shadow, are determined to not be denied what they consider their birth-right, longing to restore the barren wasteland that is now Anauroch to the once fertile land that was the Empire of Magic. The Shadovar have a regimented society, ruled by The Most High and his Princes of Shade, all working in unison, toughened by centuries of hardship in the Shadow, to accomplish their common goal. So far they have all but ignored the Bedine and Zhentarim, considering them beneath their notice. Geography Important Sites Empire of Shadows Thultanthar (Metropolis, 25,000+): Returned in 1372 DR, the “City of Shadows” is a floating mountaintop, sliced off and inverted, with a city built upon it. It was built centuries past before the folly of Karsus and no magic like it survives in Faerûn this day, as the reincarnated Mystra restricted mortals from ever again creating such potent spells as the ones that created Shades mythallar. Ruins of Hlangadath Hlaungadath: About forty miles east of the ruined city Ascore on the northwestern border of the desert, another abandoned city rises from the sands. Hlaungadath is one of the three floating cities that Mystra saved during the destruction of Netheril. It is a city that landed near the High Ice and was eventually abandoned. Old but largely intact, the ruins are inhabited by a clan of lamias. The lamias stalk the nearby oases, preying on careless Zhentarim or unwary Bedine - but anyone knowledgeable of the desert knows of the evil of Hlaungadath and give the ruins a wide berth. The drow in the War of the Spider Queen series of novels arrive here by means of a portal. They were forced to flee after they are set upon by the lamia and their legions of asabi thralls. History ;-461 DR : The Phaerimm start casting spells in the Netheril (region). These spells are the magical cause of Anauroch ;10 DR : The Netheril (region) is renamed Anauroch to reflect the great desert that the region had become. ;1372 DR : The arrival of Thultanthar heralds the beginning of the end of Anauroch ;1479 DR : The end of Anauroch is complete and only occasional dustbowls remain as a reminder of the once great desert. Important Personages * Telamont Tanthul, "Most High of Shade Enclave", a powerful Shadow Archmage. * The Princes of Shade, sons of Telamont Tanthul. * Ruha, a Bedine Harper, briefly a companion of Galaeron Nihmedu, she attempted to capture the Seraph of Lies Malik el Sami yn Nasser to bring him before a High Harper court. Magic “Other than the Sharn Wall, has there been a known counterspell to it ever since?” If you mean known to me and a handful of TSR or WotC designers and editors and fiction writers, and known to a very few individuals in the Realms, the answer is “yes.” If you mean known to most spellcasters in the Realms, the answer is “no” (but then, most spellcasters in the Realms know of the lifedrain magic, as opposed to its desert effects, only from legend and hearsay, not specifics). NDAs, thanks to not-yet-told tales and Realmslore, constrain me from a full answer here, but I can go this far: there are several known counterspells, both divine and arcane. One of the arcane countermagics is a necromantic spell that attacks the lifedrain effect itself by overloading it with unlife; this spell consumes undead, usually zombies and skeletons, to derive sufficient power to manage the overloading. This spell was crafted by a known Realms NPC who shared it with others, whereas most of the alternative counters to lifedrain are known by a lone creator or a pair or trio of individuals who worked together to develop that counter. “Did the High Mages of Evereska even attempt to create it?” Yes, but their initial attempts failed because they misunderstood the precise nature of the threat. The phaerimm were using the lifedrain spell (yep, the same one I wrote, that was published in only slightly simplified form; wordcount considerations always trim my careful, lawyer-like, long-because-exhaustive spell descriptions into much shorter writeups that unfortunately allow for misunderstandings, confusion, and misinterpretations) under the direction of a wise senior phaerimm who’d developed a second spell that drew on the power of Evereska’s mythal to prolong and extend each lifedrain cast, AND used the mythal itself to try to conceal that power drain. This was successful in misleading the Evererskans about the mythal connection for too long for them to rescue it, once realization dawned. “Some might think that given that several archwizards, including Lady Polaris and Karsus himself, and most probably Ioulaum and Larloch, too, had tried to unravel the secrets of the lifedrain---and failed, what chances did the High Mages have at success?” A common misapprehension to modern real-world thinkers: if this great government or that great corporation couldn’t do X, what chance does Johnny in his basement have? The truth is that it’s almost ALWAYS Johnnies in their basements who make the big breakthroughs; the corporate staff techs and scientists (and for that matter, staff game designers) are best at developing or redeveloping new or old ideas, and bringing them to market. The High Mages had little chance of success because they recognized the true nature of the threat too late, were already too busy with other concerns and threats to deal with it properly, and were too few to counteract the phaerimm’s responses to their counter magics. Now, an ignorant commentator (even, perhaps, a sage) in the Realms might well think and voice the sentence you’ve posted here, illustrating the “if the mighty couldn’t do it, what chance do these lessers have”? thinking that this usually holds true in non-magical military confrontations (note the Serreg situation Rob King created in his short story: Serreg alone against three phaerimm; it’s no coincidence that many military strategists strive to get three units against one unit of an enemy, to “ensure” victory). However, in this case, said reasoning is based on ignorance of all relevant details of the situation. No, Ioulaum and Larloch DIDN’T try to understand or counter the lifedrain, and it’s erroneous to think that they “probably” would try, because it’s based on an incorrect view that the unified phaerimm faced a unified foe. The whole point I was driving home in my creation of Netheril and Cormanthyr and their histories was that civilizations (elven and dwarven, not just human) invariably fall when they become groups of arrogant “me first” individuals pursuing their own selfish goals or interests or passing whims, rather than placing a primary value in living and working together, as a team/cohesive society. Netheril was doomed to its fall because of its decadent squabbling and internal power battles, and (with a few exceptions) its survivors have largely flourished since then by learning the lessons of unbridled hubris. Even the self-styled Princes of Shade have learned caution and to work behind the scenes to make victory likely, before open confrontations. Back then, Ioulaum and Larloch weren’t so wise. They saw Evereska as doomed and not worth aiding, preferring to pursue their own plans and interests, and simply withdrew and abandoned Evereska. “But I say it's still worth the try, considering that it was their city which was at stake. Then again, mayhap they couldn't have spared even a single wizard researching on a counterspell when every one of them was direly needed to foil the attacks of the phaerimm armies...” Almost all Evereskans of the time would agree with you that developing countermagic to then lifedrain was worth the effort, to rescue their city. And yes, by the time they really started to tackle the problem (by starting to understand it, after their initial spell-efforts yielded very puzzling results), they were too busy fighting a war on their doorsteps to have time and spellcasting power (numbers of mages working countermagics) to succeed. However, your second sentence reveals (“they couldn’t have spared”) your view of the Evereskans as operating under a unified command, which certainly wasn’t the case. It’s nearer the truth to see the situation at the time as akin to a man running down a street full of mansions in a gated modern real-world community shouting that “There’s a forest fire, right over the fence! It’ll be here in minutes! Get out! Get out while you still can!” . . . and some of the people in those houses can’t even hear him through their walls and the movies on the big-screen TVs they’re dozing in front of, some ignore him as “some crazy shouting in the street outside” or phone the police to “come get the shouting madman who somehow got into our community,” others say, “Another forest fire? Well, the last one came nowhere near here, so pfffft!” and only a few heed - - and of those few, some start to argue about the judgment of the shouting man, because they know more about forest fires than he ever will, others take the view that just staying in their modern mansions and waiting it out is the safest thing to do because their mansions are new and big and specially built, and the relative handful who DO take the shouting man seriously disagree as to what to do, but in any case find most of their neighbors will ignore or dispute any orders they give. And whereas a forest fire’s fuel and driving factors can be clearly understood and are fairly simple, the phaerimm were numerous, well-prepared to counter resistance, and had a huge head start in multiple attacking magics. The walls of a strong castle can hold back a handful of unarmed men, but can fall swiftly before an army of armed, experienced titans. “Candlemas was able to create a spell that countered the lifedrain's effects to his crops. But it was unknown whether such spell was effective only to specific plants or to all kinds, since he died before he could fully make use of it. Also, as far as I can recall, it didn't counter the lifedrain's effects on the land itself. You recall correctly; Candrelmaskur’s spell doesn’t inhibit or stop or fight the effects of lifedrain on any area. Candrelmaskur saw that the lifedrain was leaching moisture from the land, and that it was some sort of massive, ongoing magical effect. He decided that investigating the cause of the lifedrain and determining its specifics so as to develop a counter to it would take far too long to rescue his crops, and was therefore a project for later, after his crops had been rescued. So he crafted a spell that translocated waters from a small lake he’d augmented with compost and minerals he knew the plants needed, aerated this water into mists, and delivered them to his crops. The spell is effective in aiding almost all sorts of plants, because almost all sorts of plants benefit from getting oxygen to their roots (fungi crops won’t be aided much by this spell). “Serreg, an archwizard featured in King's First Flight from the Realms of the Arcane anthology, after decades of doggedly researching on the "blight" that ruined Netherese lands, finally "detected" its cause. However, he was stopped by three phaerimm, depriving us of seeing whatever counter-spell he must have invented. Given that he alone was not enough to fight three of the many phaerimm that cast the lifedrain, it's safe to say that whatever it was he invented to dispel the lifedrain would have been useless after all.” No, it’s not safe to say that at all. :} Serreg’s crafted magic was ultimately useless because he didn’t survive to pass it on to others to use, not because it wasn’t effective. THO was quite correct to decry your logic here. You are correctly underlining that the phaerimm were numerous and concerted enough to effectively deal with those who resisted them, but that says nothing at all about what or how puissant that resistance might have been, if had been properly mounted. If you’d said “As it turned out, Serreg’s counter-spell was lost and had no effect,” that would be correct. But your wording is “would have been useless after all,” meaning his counter-spell would have been ineffective no matter what happened, which is untrue. If Serreg had lived and freely and swiftly distributed his counter-spell, it would have been VERY effective if cast widely, reversing lifedrains and ending this particular phaerimm threat almost as swiftly as the threat struck. The phaerimm succeeded because of discipline in maintaining stealth during their massive “overkill” of lifedrain spellcasting, and linking the prolongation of those magics to the various wards, mythals, and mythallars of their target locations, so the impact of the draining was unstoppable by the time it was noticed - - whereupon the phaerimm were ready in numbers to kill or foil the relative few (like Serreg) who tried to stop the lifedrain effect. Category:Deserts Category:Locations in North Faerûn